Moonlighting

[Dez]

My question is:

What are the advantages of running a blue Christmas light bulb for moonlighting? I know that some of you have computer programs to run your moonlighting period according to the seasons. I am thinking about putting moonlighting in my canopy on my 150 gallon reef. It's a 4' x 2' footprint. What wattages of bulbs do I need for a good moonlight.... and when do I run the bulbs during the month etc? Anybody out there have experience with this?

Des

[Canadian Man]

Dez,
I have been looking at the same idea using moonlighting. I have heard that there are certin cycles but i figure i will just keep them on when the main lights are off.

In my new hood i was planning on using the string lights that Revy sells just cause they seem to be more moisture proof.

Sorry that my reply dosent help ya much but I am curious about the replys as well.

cheers

[Delphinus]

I missed this post somehow, I just noticed it today.

I'm kind of thinking about this too. I was thinking I might go with some kind of white LED or maybe a couple of them.

At this point I'm thinking of just modifying the on/off times to somewhat match a lunar cycle although what I would really dig is if I could also use a variable dimmer to match intensity too. A blue Christmas light would work better for that. Have you tried holding a blue Christmas light over the reef at night? What did it look like, did you like the effect?

I bought one of those Firecracker X10 modules from SmokinReefer, hoping to use that somehow.

I haven't figured out any implementation details yet though. Will try to followup when I've gone and done something.. Realistically, this is a couple projects ahead of me right now.

So I don't know if this helps answer your questions or not. If not, well, at least it bumps the thread back up.

cheers

PS. As far as advantages go .... that might not be too easy to enumerate. IMHO anything that helps to recreate the natural environment is beneficial, although in this case, I'm not certain what are the tangible benefits to moonlight (other than it helps us look into our tanks at night, or, it's just a "neat-oh" thing). Many species (corals, perhaps fish) use the lunar cycle for spawning, although a coral spawn in a tank is not a good thing (massive sudden cycle, I think even some delicate species [e.g. clams] can get their gills clogged and thus suffocate) so that would in fact be, perhaps not the best tangible benefit of moonlighting if that were ever to happen. I don't know what I'm talking about though, so ... take with a grain of your favourite condiment.